Handshakes not Handouts

PFP’s development approach is handshakes not handouts. Our projects aim to increase household income, build local resilience and capability and create jobs so that people can create the means to pay for what they need. Since PFP is a not-for-profit organisation, their payments go towards further developing their own communities.

An example is access to electricity. One billion people live without electricity today, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This is a fundamental barrier to progress, with crippling effect: a cycle of insecure livelihoods, extreme poverty, hunger, disease, gender-based violence and conflict. Sustainable Development Goal 7 aims to deliver access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. Progress is slow, and those remaining without are the most needy, vulnerable, remote and poor.

Off-grid technologies are available but they are considered to be financially risky and therefore not viable. Lack of policies, planning and institutional support, inadequate regulation, lack of financing for off-grid entrepreneurs are insurmountable hurdles for those who need electricity most. PFP projects provide first time access to reliable solar electricity with a pay-as you-go model.

Beneficiaries pay by creating income (through charging mobile phones and devices, providing labour in lieu and/or extended working hours after sunset) and saving on the kerosene that they would otherwise use for lighting. The payments are small enough not to put a financial burden on the household, while fostering em powerment and pride in the ability to provide for the household.

Our goal

We are a small, innovative, agile organisation, testing new approaches and ways of working, guided by our core values of partnership, empowerment and sustainability. Reliable, clean, affordable electricity saves lives and transforms communities. Giving communities the ability to generate their own electricity is one of the most effective ways of triggering sustainable development. PFP delivers sustainable development projects, powered by a backbone of renewable energy, that enable access to healthcare, education and economic opportunity for the world’s poorest people.

Sustainable development approach

People pay a fair price for what they use and the revenue from projects is ploughed back into the operation, maintenance and expansion of the community project facilities and services. Once the full scope of work has been delivered and is stable, PFP exits and the community takes on the ownership, operation and maintenance through a not-for-profit local company that was set up at the outset.

Allianced-based delivery

We work primarily through alliances with well-established, respected experts in technology & project implementation, and alliances with international and local charities and NGOs. This ensures delivery of robust, replicable projects appropriate to the environment and reduces the risk of redundancy and duplication.

Lean operation

We employ the minimum permanent staff, ensuring local ownership of the project from the outset. This builds local capability, creates local employment that continues past project completion. It also keeps our overheads low for maximum grass-roots impact, and enables us to deliver multiple projects with expert resources.

Focus on outcomes

We define project outcomes and metrics with ours stakeholders at the outset, and report and review throughout the project lifecycle. Outcomes are assessed independently during the first two years of operation to ensure continuous improvement.